


april showers bring may flowers

by nightcap



Series: the star-spangled man and the winter soldier [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Crack, Fluff, Hair Washing, M/M, One Shot, Showers, if you want to be specific, washing of bucky's hair
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-11
Updated: 2014-07-11
Packaged: 2018-02-08 11:01:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1938450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightcap/pseuds/nightcap
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve and Bucky take a shower.</p>
            </blockquote>





	april showers bring may flowers

**Author's Note:**

> this is totally and probably completely for two of my best friends, whom i miss very much. taking summer classes and/or being halfway across the world is not an ideal situation due to my a. unadulterated love for you and b. sad alone situation. but: anyway: this is totally for [caroline](http://kctiebishop.tumblr.com/) and [emma](http://gwenstacys.tumblr.com/). 
> 
> this came to me in a dream (aka i haven't washed my hair for like a week and my scalp was itchy, and that's literally where the whole thing sprung from).

“I’m telling you, you were right-handed,” says the star-spangled man, now, with a sad, earnest look on his face. They are sitting on either side of a tartan sofa watching TV, which is where they have ended up after a day of chasing each other around various keynote cities of America.

The winter soldier looks down at the remote in his left hand and frowns. Something explodes on the screen.

“I favor my left arm,” he says, with an unmoving gaze. “I have always favored my left arm.”

“Of course you have,” says the star-spangled man.

The winter soldier’s frown deepens. Something falls from the armrest of the sofa. No one moves to pick it up.

“Look,” says the star-spangled man, the same time the winter soldier says “I don’t –”, chin lifted defiantly. And that’s when it happens ( _it_ happens). _It’s not fair_ , thinks the winter soldier, _I’m not equipped to deal with this; it crept up on me, I had every right to avoid this_ _from fucking_ happening, but it happens anyway, so there’s nothing much we can. Do about it.

“Scalp,” says the winter soldier, inexplicably. His forehead furrow deepens to, like, trench level. _World War I was fought between the winter soldier’s eyebrows_ , thinks the star-spangled man (who isn’t even star-spangled at this point. He’s just changed into his Christmas pajama bottoms and a complimentary Stark Industries sweatshirt (Tony Stark likes seeing his name on people’s chests, that’s why, and seeing it over the finely-muscled Captain America chest is a fucking _triumph_ ). He is every bit Steve Rogers, but we’re going to call him the star-spangled man, to keep up with appearances and continuity and the like. So.), who has a sudden urge to laugh. That would be bad in this situation, he decides, holding it down.

“Scalp?” he asks, turning his head, thumb poised above the mute button of the remote, which has somehow ended up on his lap.

“Scalp.”

The winter soldier stands up and leaves. The star-spangled man waits for the customary grace period of twenty-five seconds and follows.

-

“My scalp is _tingling_ ,” says the winter soldier with a scrunched-up look on his face, whose sour expression has been transferred from the living room to the bathroom. He is sitting on the toilet seat with his knees hugged to his chest.

“Like,” says the star-spangled man, “Like do you mean it’s an _inside_ thing, or is it more like? On the – you know?”

“Outside,” says the winter soldier, probing his scalp with his right hand, then inspecting it while rubbing his fingers together distastefully.

“Right, okay,” says the star-spangled man, moving closer cautiously. “And we’re going to – fix this. Tell me what’s wrong.”

The winter soldier brings his fingertips up to his nose, then to the star-spangled man’s.

“Smell,” he says.

“What? What are you – Oh. _Oh._ ”

“What,” says the winter soldier.

“ _Oh_.”

“What.”

“That’s grease, Buck. You might want to get in the shower. I’ll – Do you want me to –”

The winter soldier flinches, unfurls himself (he is a rose, the star-spangled man decides. one of those really thorny ones that don't smell great), stands up, and steps into the shower.

“Do you want me to go? Because I’ll go,” says the star-spangled man, tilting his head at the bathroom door. The winter soldier presses his lips together and stares ahead.

The star-spangled man hesitates, then walks out. There are indecisive footsteps in the hallway for some time, then they make their way to the sofa and disappear.

“Right,” says the winter soldier, turning the shower knob. He stands stock-still, letting the water run down his face and pool under his feet. It weighs his clothes down so that they’re slick and wet and hot against his skin.

There is the memory of something, pressing against him. Cold. This feels wrong.

“Hey, Buck,” says the star-spangled man, who is standing in the bathroom doorway. (The winter soldier did not hear him come in.) “Do you want to take your clothes off?”

-

And so it ends up that the winter soldier needs help. With showering. He accepts it.

“This is shampoo,” says the star-spangled man, who is now standing behind the winter soldier, both of them behind the drawn shower curtain. He is lathering Herbal Essences through the winter soldier’s hair with soft, soothing circles. “I don’t mean that you don’t, _like_ , know that, but you know? You might want to do it yourself, sometime. Someday. Like, tomorrow, or the day after.”

The winter soldier makes a noise that sounds like a cross between a grunt and a purr. The star-spangled man did not know that was physically possible. Then:

“Hey,” says the star-spangled man, pausing with his fingers in the winter soldier’s hair, suddenly kind of aware that there are only two layers of wet fabric between his stomach and the winter soldier’s back.

“Yeah?” says the winter soldier, tilting his head back to look upside-down star-spangled man in the face. Some of his shampoo-dredged hair swings back and hits him in the nose.

“Ow,” says the star-spangled man, trying to keep the smile from sneaking onto his face. There are little drops of water rolling off the winter soldier’s eyelashes.

“Okay,” says the winter soldier, facing forward again. “Are you.” He coughs. “Going to finish up? I kind of want to see the ending of Star Wars.”

“Yeah,” says the star-spangled man, grinning so hard shower water is getting in his mouth. “Lasers ‘n stuff. You know you’re supposed to shower without clothes on, right?”

“Yeah,” says the winter soldier seriously. “Okay.”

“Alright,” says the star-spangled man, rinsing out the winter soldier’s hair. “I’m just going to condition, okay? We kind of have to let it sit for a minute, hope you don’t mind.”

The winter soldier is the kind of silent that means he’s mulling something over. Then he clears his throat.

“I am a highly conditioned assassin,” he says. The star-spangled man thinks - it sounds - a little regretful, and terribly strange. 

“I know,” says the star-spangled man. “I know.”

“I just – Because – you, and me, and – You know?”

“I do,” says the star-spangled man, turning the knob so that the shower turns off. The room smells like fruity shampoo and steam and the winter soldier’s skin.

“I don’t want to be.” The winter soldier swallows. “I don’t want to be, _like_.”

“You’re not,” the star-spangled man assures him. “You’re going to get better. You are a _person_.”

The winter soldier grunts. There’s no sound but the water dripping from the faucet, a gentle _beat beat_ _beat_ by both their feet. Then:

“Maybe next time we can – take another shower. Together,” the winter soldier says, closing his eyes.

“Mm."

“With our clothes _off_ ,” he finishes, pointedly.

 

**The end.**

**Author's Note:**

> on tumblr at ppprptts, most of the time.


End file.
